Seattle Seapony

by dNihil

[3-X] Fire

“Jump! Jump! Jump!” Peyton chanted. She laughed and clapped her hooves together.

Cala jumped. Well, not quite. She fell off the dock, more like. A big splash of water hit Peyton as Cala entered the sea for the first time.

“Woo! Go Cala!” She leaned over the edge and splashed at the water with her fore-hooves.

Cala's head popped above the surface of the water. She gargled a bit of water in her mouth and spit. “Bleck, how this stuff is salty. Am I supposed to learn how to breathe this?”

“Drink some of it, oricorn! Oricorn!”

“You don't even know what that means!” Cala said. But Peyton kept laughing. Cala's head submerged, and after a second her tail flipped out of the water, sending a stream of water at Peyton.

The cold water hit her and she shrieked, but then still laughed at Cala's antics.

“Speak for yourself! You haven't even felt the water,” Cala said.

When her friend didn't respond, Cala noticed how she was floating. She had her skinny legs tucked up very tight to her body. Only her pectoral fins were treading the water, and she had to work her right one harder since it was torn from the dog chase. The water got colder under her toward her tail, which was wrapped up and helping her balance. She had felt that cold when she had dived under; too far down it became unbearable to feel it. She was not made to swim in frigid waters.

Cala focused again on her friend. “Come in with me! Jump! Jump!”

“I don't know how to swim, though,” Peyton said.

“Jump in! I'll carry you!”

Peyton smiled at her, then got up and walked away.

“No! No! Peyton, don't leave!” Cala began to breathe more rapidly. She looked down into the water. It was dark. The further into it she looked, the deeper and darker and colder it seemed. She almost felt like it was going to pull her down.

“Peyton! Peyton! Peyton! Come back! Come back!” Cala screamed. She beat her fins harder and tried to stay afloat. Her head and neck stuck up out of the water. Her tail was pulled up as far as she could bring it. She did everything she could to keep from sinking. “Don't leave me!”

“Woah, woah!” Peyton said, running back to the edge of the dock. “I was just getting myself a life jacket, see?” She held up the dinky vest. “Now... how am I supposed to wear it. It probably won't fit right, and the clasps—”

“Come into the water with me!” Cala said. “Who cares about that? I'll carry you!”

Peyton gulped and looked into the water. “Is... is it cold?”

Cala laughed. “That wouldn't be a problem for you. You're a lot stronger than I am. You're twice as heavy as me! Your body fat will insulate you!”

She blushed. “Still, I'm not sure if—”

“Just jump, already! I wanna hold you!”

She looked into the water with trepidation in her eyes. She took a deep breath, let it out, and reached out a hoof to feel the water again. It was cold!

But then she couldn't ponder that. A scaly prehensile rope had wrapped itself around her limb and yanked her into the water.

As soon as her shrieking and thrashing had subsided, Peyton found herself wrapped up in Cala's legs, kept afloat with no effort. She looked at Cala's face and saw that she had visibly calmed down, too. They both relaxed as they floated together in the ocean.

“So, why'd you do that?” Peyton asked, finally letting out what was on her mind.

“Hmm...” Cala smiled. “Payback for the bathtub.”

“The bathtub?”

“You did the same thing, remember?” Cala giggled. “Scared me near to death.”

They continued to enjoy the water in their own company for a while longer.

↫

“Are they just... hugging? Is that all they're floating out there doing?” Renée asked.

Willy smiled. He was lying on his back, petting Jasper, who slept on his belly. “Who cares?”

Renée grunted. She kicked at the sand underneath her. She was looking across the beach and the waters to where the two fillies swam off the end of the dock. “I don't like it. I don't like what Cala has been doing. She's just too smart for a girl her age and—”

“Well, she has grown a few years in the past few days, don't you think?” Willy laughed.

“But it's not natural!” she said. “I don't care what they've been doing together, where they're headed is going to break us all apart. Already we have no idea what they've been doing when we're not around, we're just going to keep drifting apart. We're the only group of survivors and they're just destroying that. We won't be able to work together, and we'll have less of a chance to survive without their help.”

“Or do you mean that they'll have less of a chance to survive without us watching over them? Because what you're saying doesn't make any sense. Do you or do you not care about what they're doing together?”

“I just... I don't know. I'm just so worried. I want what's best for them... and for all of us.”

“Let them carve their own path,” Willy said. “I don't know why you like to involve yourself in peoples' lives so much. I just try to help people out when I can. If something goes wrong, then I'll try to correct it in a quick and efficient matter. But meddling doesn't get you anywhere. It usually just makes people hate you.” He thought for a moment. “In fact, Peyton never really fit into our group all that... seamlessly, you could say. She was almost like a third wheel. It might be better if it were just us living together now that she has something else important to fill her life.”

Renée sighed. “Yeah... alright. That might be for the best.” She leaned over and gave Willy a peck on the cheek. “You're so level-headed. I don't know what I might do without you...”

Willy just chuckled.

A few moments later, Renée gasped. She was staring at the dock, and... it was not supposed to look like that! She got up and ran toward the shore.

“Fire!” she yelled. “FIRE! FIRE!”

⤻

They floated together silenty, holding each other, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the chill of the water. Then, suddenly, Peyton's ears perked.

“Do you hear that? I think Renée's yelling something at us...” she said.

“Mmmh,” Cala replied, hugging her harder.

“I think...” Peyton looked around them. Something didn't look right about the dock. “It's on fire... Cala, the dock is on fire!”

“...What?” Cala broke out of her reverie to look at Peyton.

“We have to untie the boat! Hoist me up onto the dock!”

“Um... okay,” Cala said. She swam closer, then lifted Peyton up a bit. Once the unicorn got a grip, Cala shoved upwards, sending Peyton rolling over the wooden boards.

Peyton got up and ran towards a nearby sailboat that was tethered up to the dock.

“Wait!” Cala yelled. “Wait! Help me out of the water first!”

Peyton groaned, but ran back quickly and helped Cala get back up. Then she ran back towards the boat, grabbing a rope in her hooves and unwinding it from a metal anchor that was bolted to the dock.

“Pey, are you—” Then Cala finally caught sight of the blaze, only a couple dozen feet away. “Shit!” she swore, then went to the other anchor to unravel the other rope. She didn't bother with her hooves, instead getting her mouth dirty and wasting no time catching up to Peyton's progress.

They both threw the ropes on board the boat at once, then leaped aboard as the fire drew near. The boat drifted away from the dock as Cala sat there watching, catching her breath and feeling the heat of the blaze on her skin. Peyton, wary of the leaping flames, took a paddle and used it to push their boat further away from the dock and danger. The boat moved away from the dock as the two mares watched, constantly looking for imminent danger.

“Whew. That was close,” Cala said. “We almost lost all the supplies we collected to a fire. Can you believe it, Pey?”

The mare just stared at the dock. “Wow. That's a big fire...”

“Y'arr! Quite fitting, lad! The most recent plunder of Calamity the Conqueror deserves only the most glorious blaze to lay wreck to it!” Cala had donned a pirate hat and an eye-patch over her right eye, Peyton saw, and was grinning stupidly.

Peyton laughed. “That actually looks really good on you. Is this going to become a regular thing?” Cala shrugged. “Well, regardless, I guess it was about time we set sail.” She leaned over the back of the boat, shouting toward the beach. “You hear that, ya pansies! We're leaving! Good riddance, and I hope you never catch sight of our hides ever again!”

“That's... kinda mean,” Cala said.

Peyton huffed. “You don't know what it's been like to have to labor under them for the past month... you start to learn how not to care.” She smiled. “I'm just so glad we're finally all alone. Do you have any idea what I've wanted to try with you without those nags being around to catch us in the act?”

Cala cackled. “Oh-hoh, I do know. But first we've gotta get out of here. Do you have any idea how to work a sailboat?”

“Not the slightest clue.”

↹

End of Part 3

Comments

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

I gotta agree with Cala, that is kinda mean.

Is this the end of Renee and Will's involvement then? Cala might be able to survive off the sea, but I don't think Peyton can. Also, that fire may spread quite far . . .

Why am I getting Grave of the Fireflies vibes?

[Starscribe]

Well that was a charming character moment with an interesting twist at the end. I wonder how far the fire's going to spread. I doubt very much a handful of ponies are going to be able to fight it, though if they're lucky the city won't actually catch. Modern structures are pretty good about being fire retardant. Maybe when it gets to those it will stop.

Or maybe it won't. I considered fire to be inevitable in many of the former great cities when humans disappeared. Now it seems Seattle will burn before LA, desert city or no. Granted, it' hard to judge the exact date here, but... (shrugs)

Farewell, fair city. You will not be the last to die this way.

[Hooked on Sliding]

6136250

A lone stallion ambled down the Interstate. His journey across Washington to Seattle finally at a close. Sweeping his gaze across the state of Washington's jewel, and notices that half of it is on fire.

"Well fuck that"

He turns his way south towards Portland

Tee-Hee